Sunny day, dream away...

Went to work on a new story this morning. Thought I’d change things up after devoting so much time to the long piece. Felt good to get into something short again.

Walked earlier than usual, thinking to heed the forecast of heavy early afternoon winds. A good choice. The sun was out and the weather was perfect for strolling around the block. Worked a little more when we got home, then hooked up with the boys via FaceTime. All in all a pretty good day.

Read and napped later in the afternoon. Also nice. Then, to cap the whole thing off, found an acceptance slip in my email box from the Owen Wister Review for “Unseen,” a story that was a finalist in the Tucson Festival of Books, and pleasantly reviewed by a number of literary magazines, but never published before.

Just when you think it’s over, right?

Looks as if I’ll have some interesting work going in to the weekend. Happy about that. Happy, as always, to be busy.

Worth noting...

Yeah, the days bleed into one another. But it’s good to keep an eye out for the odd detail that makes them different. Not just to mark time, but to remember why it’s important to hold on and appreciate. Didn’t do much of anything today but write. Even so, the time was well spent. Got in a nice walk around noon. Had a nice slice of Irish cheddar. Felt the sunburned skin on top of my head and remembered why I should wear a hat while fishing. No complaints, no worries, no expectations. Just taking it one day at a time and being thankful everyone I know is healthy.

Wait! It's Tuesday?

Opening day jitters? Who knows. Thought I was ready to bring home a nice fish dinner, but got skunked down on the Arkansas for the first time in a long time. No matter. Had a great day getting out and getting away from it all. Air was a little cool early on with the wind blowing through the canyon, but it got better as it got later in the day. High clouds, blue sky, sun. Had a big brown chase my fly to the bank, but it was the only fish I saw all afternoon.

Canon City was dead like everywhere else, but I was happy seeing it that way. The fewer parades and rallies we have the better.

D’s birthday today. Forty-five. Called this morning and got rolled into voicemail, but left a message wishing him the best. Be nice if we could catch up sometime, but I’ve learned it’s not up to me in most of these things. You do what you can, and leave the rest to whatever.

Read a terrific essay by W. Kittredge last night. An old piece that must have found its way into a magazine in the early seventies. Wish I could remember the title, but I can’t. Anyway, an eye opener.

Still here, still kicking...

Quiet for a Monday.

Up early, writing. Then out for a short walk. Saw my neighbor, R, which was nice. The block was quiet otherwise, and when I got back I wrote a couple of quick letters, paid some bills, and took it easy.

Tried making a deposit at Ent, and ended up stranded at the drive-thru for something like forty minutes. Expected a wait, but not that long. When I finished the transaction the nice clerk said I could have used the walk-up at the front of the building. I didn’t even know they had a walk up.

Definitely going fishing tomorrow. Hard to know what, exactly, is going on but heard the Gov of NM is putting a lock on certain kinds of travel tomorrow. Gonna hit the water before the same happens here.

That’s it. The rest can wait till tomorrow.

Well, okay. One more thing. Made it to the end of the new piece this morning. A tentative end, of course, but an end. Looking forward to what comes next.

You live, you learn...

Did some decent work early on at the keyboard, then made the mistake of driving off to Calhan to see the “Paint Mines.” Drive was nice, but if a quiet stroll in nature was what you were after, you would have done better taking a jog down 16th Street in Denver. Would have met with fewer people. Not exaggerating when I say there were well over a hundred sight-seers out there trudging through the gumbo. And I mean people who looked like they hadn’t been out of the house in years. But the day was nice, if a little cool, and everyone was well behaved. So…lesson learned. Packed a couple of corned beef sandwiches in the hope of having a small picnic lunch out on the prairie, but ended up wolfing them down in the car on the way home. Not all adventures work out the way you hope.

Killed the rest of the afternoon reading and napping. Which makes for a good day, anytime. Cooking up the chicken marsala tonight and cracking a nice bottle of pinot. Not sure what’s going on in the rest of the world, and don’t really care at the moment. Have too much out in front of me to do anything but press forward with eyes open and hope for the best.

Toying with the notion of going fishing this week. Yeah, sneak down to the Arkansas and see if I can’t catch dinner. As long as gas prices are low, why not? Silver lining isn’t always where you expect it to be. Maybe it’s never where you expect it to be.

Critique off to N. One story left. Set it aside after the first read thinking maybe it had the right stuff. Gonna find out tomorrow.

Here we are, Saturday...

Well, can’t say I lost my arm-wrestling match with the day but then I didn’t lose ground, either.

Up at a decent hour and off to the cottage to write. Did pretty well, pushing the new ms word count over 65,000. Should be able to reach the end here in a day or so. The end, that is, of the beginning. But before I leap into revisions, I’m going to go back to the shorts I left in a state of despair and see if I can’t shape one or two into a decent story. Also going to get in some added reading time.

Read an old essay by L. McMurtry this afternoon. One I hadn’t seen before—Take My Saddle from the Wall: A Valediction. Caught up on some other pieces as well, before tending to another N. critique.

Was wondering about the boys when we got a FaceTime call from Jack while out on a late afternoon walk. They’d cut off all his hair! He looked like a lifer in the orange top he was wearing! Good, so good, to hear his voice again. Matty was wild, as always. Neither one let on any disappointment about not coming out. They seem (or Jack does, anyway) to realize people are sick and travel is dangerous.

Miss the hell out of the both.

Nothing to do but bear it.

Where this goes, who knows...

Another quiet day filled with little surprises.

Progress on new book, progress with reading list.

No walk today—snow and sleet—no anything. Quick trip to liquor store to pick up Marsala, a decent bottle of wine. Birthday card off to Dylan. Card off to Mark G.

Just trying to stay in touch.

Might try and get away tomorrow. Or Sunday.

The best of times, the worst of times...

Well, if I hadn’t heard it all before now, the Broadmoor announced it’s closing for 70 days. They did get killed with the Space Symposium canceling, but this won’t help the local economy much.

On the positive side of things, I’m 62,000 words into the new piece.

One the negative side of things, haven’t heard from my grandsons in weeks.

On the positive side of things, the weather’s supposed to break for the weekend.

On the negative side of things, I’m still worrying about my people.

On the positive side of things, I have plenty of things to keep me busy.

Passing the time...

Had a nice dinner last night with K and S. Nothing too special—just corned beef, cabbage and soda bread—but somehow it came off as a small feast.

Easy night, easy morning. Getting up later than usual, but it hasn’t seemed to make much difference. Work’s still getting done.

Miss the boys. Haven’t heard from them since we got back from Pittsburgh. Not our place to bitch, so I won’t, but I’m sure looking forward to seeing their faces again.

Got out for a walk this afternoon. Nice day, for the most part. Sun drifted in and out of clouds. Seeing more people afoot than a week ago.

Passed the 60,000 word mark on the new ms. today. Hope to finish soon. Looking forward to writing another short piece or two, then leaping ahead with revisions.

Still haven’t hit stride with working out at home, but trust it will come. Meanwhile, more of the same.

By any other name...

Getting used to this COVID-19 thing.

Skipped the gym today and went out walking. Came home, took a nap, and went back to work.

Read two new N pieces today. Made headway on the new ms. Everything else was blue sky and beautiful weather. Spring’s standing on the doormat, waiting to come in.

Made an early trip to the grocery store today to see if I could score some paper. No luck. The hoarding is still full on. No worries. Will figure something out when the figuring’s necessary. Meantime, glad to know everyone’s okay.

Signing off.

Social distance.

More of the same...

Still here.

Woke to the sound of chuh, chuh, chuh this morning. Was deep in sleep and thought I was dreaming. Got out of bed and turned up the sash to see my neighbor chipping ice from the windshield of his wife’s car. Came up with a description of them a long time ago: full half-assed. They never cease to live up.

Got in more good work at the keyboard, thought the output wasn’t as prodigious as yesterday’s. No complaints. Just happy to be here, writing. It’s gonna be day-to-day for a long time, I’m afraid, but I’m ready for it. Turns out all those summers in Wyoming, huddled in a tent during a three day rain, are paying off.

Grocery stores are still crazy. Paper shelves empty, chip shelves running over.

Bratwurst tonight. Chips? You bet.

Looking to another quiet night...

Back at it.

Up early, pounding away on the new ms. Looking to make hard run to the end, finish the draft, and start making new notes by the end of the month.

Ran out of thyroid medicine and had to make a trip to Kings Soopers this afternoon. Empty shelves everywhere. Glad I wasn’t on the hunt for food. People are taking his harder than I would have thought.

Took a nice walk around the neighborhood when I got home. Always gets to me, trouncing around the places Jack and I used to go, but it was good to be outdoors in the fresh air even if it was cold.

Worried about my peeps, here and there.

Hope we get this thing under control soon.

Friday!

Starting to feel the constriction. World’s closing in, but not altogether in a bad way. Folks are nervous, but mostly nice. Helpful.

Heard the boys’ schools have shuttered for a month. Expect others will do the same. Missing my people, but at the same time (knock wood) happy to know no one is sick.

Making headway on the long piece. Everything else in limbo.

Weather was good today. Then came the snow. Sunny tomorrow, if the forecasters are right. We’ll see.

Laying back tonight. Will take whatever comes when it comes.

Breathe...

Slept in till 7:30 this morning. Didn’t seem to be any real urgency to the day. Managed some decent draft time, then headed out the gym.

People are keeping to themselves, which is probably good. Quiet afternoon.

Weather’s supposed to change, snow tonight. Hope so. Need the moisture.

Some kinda sadness coming down.

Figuring things...

World’s gotten smaller with the corona virus. Hadn’t been getting out much, but even less now. More disappointing is not being able to see the boys—and mom. Tough getting a read on how long the precautionary flags will have to fly, but imagine things will get worse before they get better.

Why does the joy of having more time to write always have to come at the expense of some other nice part of living?

Put in some good drafting time at the keyboard this morning. Passed the 45,000 mark on the new manuscript, and still feel good about the direction it’s going. Like to put a pin in it by the end of March or first week of April. We’ll see.

Time to tough it out...

Getting sloppy with the entries of late. Nothing intentional. One thing or another has come along to hamper things.

COVID-19 messing with us. Old plans cancelled, future plans in doubt. Better safe than sorry, to be sure, but was looking forward to seeing mom, and the boys again.

Meanwhile, life goes on.

Heavy into the steroids and antibiotics, hoping they stave off the infection long enough to get the tooth implant going, and the nasal polyps under the knife. Old age! Whoohoo!

Meanwhile, there’s all the rest.

On the bright side, there’s brightness, at least at the end of the day, and summer is on the way. Also on the bright side, the new joint is coming along on schedule.

Easy day at the gym. Arm is killing me, but nothing to do about it.

Just go with it...

Slow day, so I should have some inkling of where it went, but—

Pounded away on the new piece and made progress, yet maybe not enough as hoped.

Ran errands, shopped, cooked up a batch of chicken noodle soup. All like sleepwalking. Still can’t get this time thing resolved. Maybe tonight. Hate this end of Daylight Savings.

Best to call it a night.

Start again tomorrow.

Eyes wide open...

Guess I’m still running on Pennsylvania time. Up early after a good night’s sleep, and off to the cottage to work. Plugged away at the long piece, crossing the forty-thousand word mark just around noon.

Hit the gym early and had a nice workout. Place was dead for the most part, owing to what I don’t know. Just happy to be back at it.

Met my buddy George at the Broadmoor for a beer and a nice chat. He’s on his way with his new TV show, and I’m excited for him. Sounds as if he’ll be shooting in a month or two, in Labrador and Nova Scotia. Invited me up to have a look. We’ll see.

Got an acceptance slip from Waymark Literary Magazine (Kennesaw State University) this evening. Two in a week. Wow. Maybe things are going to move a little more quickly this year.

No big plans for the evening. Gonna hang back, rest, and look to see what we can do about shaking these colds.

New Coronavirus case reported, first in El Paso County. Like to believe they’re going to contain this mess, but we’ll have to wait and see.

Meanwhile, keep plugging.

Back at it...

Up early. Hit the keyboard hard and make some good progress. Coming up on the halfway point for the new long piece.

Rest of the day went to the gym, and the boys.

Need to get a letter off tomorrow.

Stopping at that.